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Kandinsky, Wassily/Vasily/Vasilyevich (1866-1944).
Russian-French painter and theorist, born in Moscow. From
1871-85 he lived in Odessa, the Ukraine/Russia. In 1886 he
begun studying law and economics at the University of Moscow
and worked as a law instructor after graduating in 1893.
In 1895 an exhibition of French Impressionist masterpieces was held in
Moscow, Kandinsky was fascinated by Monet's
Haystack paintings (series of paintings showing haystacks
painted at different hours and seasons). The same year a
performance of Richard Wagner's romantic opera Lohengrin at
the Court theater fascinated him. In 1896 he moved to Munich
to start art studies at Anton Azbe's painting school,
1897-99.
In 1901 Kandinsky founded the avant-garde movement, the
Munich Phalanx group (1901-04), and taught at their private art school. In 1902 he met the painter Gabriele
Münter, they lived together until
1916. In 1902 he exhibited for the first time with the
Berlin Secession, the following years he traveled in Italy, the
Netherlands and North Africa and visited Russia. He exhibited at the
Salon d'Automne in Paris from 1904. He was co-founder of the art movement "Der Blaue Reiter" (The
Blue Rider) - a group of expressionists
artists, established in 1911 in Munich, engaged in
primitivism, medieval and non-figurative art. Kandinsky published books about art theory e.g.
"On
the Spiritual in Art",
1911. Kandinsky's first solo exhibition was held at "Der Sturm" gallery in
Berlin, 1912. Kandinsky lived in Russia from 1914-21, mainly in Moscow, where he worked
at the Fine Arts Department of the People's Commissariat of Education. Being in conflict with
official theories on art, he returned to
Germany in 1921. In the period 1922-32
Kandinsky was employed as Professor at Bauhaus
in Weimar and Dessau. The Nazi government closed the Bauhaus in 1933 and
later that year Kandinsky settled in Neuilly-sur-Seine, near
Paris.
From the moment the Nazis came to power, they launched a campaign
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Kunst"/"Degenerate
Art"
(modernist art, especially
abstract, Cubist, Expressionist and Surrealist art) - 57 of
Kandinsky's works were confiscated by the Nazis. In 1939 he
acquired French citizenship. He died at Neuilly-sur-Seine in
1944.
Kandinsky was one of the pioneers of the abstract art, he developed an
abstract style based on lines, colors and forms.
He was influenced by many styles throughout his career
such as Art Nouveau,
Symbolism and Surrealism. (Expressionism)
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| Kannik,
Frans
(1949). Danish painter, graphics artist, performance artist and sculptor -
multiartist. First of all figurative paintings of the nude human body. |
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"Painter and Model",
2002
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| Kerckhoven,
Anne-Mie van (1951). Born in Antwerp. Belgian painter and
multimedia artist. In 1981, together with Danny Devos, she founded Club
Moral in Antwerp. Teacher at The Royal Academy of Fine Arts
in Gent in Belgium. Visiting teacher at Rijksakademie in Amsterdam. |
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Khnopff's image of the
sphinx with a woman's head and leopard's body, pressing its cheek against
that of a pensive youth, may have been influenced by Oscar Wilde's
poem "The
Sphinx" which had been published in 1894: |
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| "The Caresses" aka "The
Sphinx", 1896, Royal Museums of Fine Arts, Brussels |
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"...half
woman and half animal!
Come forth my lovely languorous Sphinx!
and put your head upon my knee!
And let me stroke your throat and see your
body spotted like the Lynx!
And let me touch those curving claws
of yellow ivory and grasp
The tail that like a monstrous Asp
coils round your heavy velvet paws!
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Khnopff, Fernand
(1858-1921).
Belgian painter, sculptor and Printmaker. He was born in Grembergen of
a family of magistrates, Khnopff grew up in Bruges. He
died in Brussels.
At first Khnopff studied law in
Brussels,
which he soon
abandoned for the Académie des Beaux-Arts, where he studied under Xavier
Mellery.
In 1877 he visited Paris where he was infected with enthusiasm for Gustave
Moreau, Delacroix,
Rossetti and Burne-Jones. In 1881 he exhibited for the first time at L'Essor
Salon in Brussels.
In 1883 he was one of the cofounders of The Twenty (Les XX or Les Vingt), this
group was considered to be the chief forum for
Symbolism in Belgian art - Les Vingt dissolved in
1893.
In 1892 he exhibited
in Paris at the first Salon de la Rose+Croix, encouraged by Joséphin
Péladan, Péladan
greatly admired Khnopff's work: "the equal of Gustave Moreau, of
Burne-Jones, of Chavannes and of Rops." About
1900 he had a house built to his own plans, "Villa
Khnopff", it was like one of the
structures in his pictures, a house out of a dream with false windows, the
house was destroyed shortly after his death. Khnopff
began his career when Realism was the most advanced style in Belgium, and
he always maintained a commitment to verisimilitude in the details of his
works. However, Realism was not enough for him, he
insisted that art must suggest the essential mystery
behind the visible facts and facades. It
was as a painter of symbols and allegories that
Khnopff became famous. One of his most baffling
allegories is "The Caresses" aka "The
Sphinx", 1896, a revision of the story of Oedipus
and the Sphinx.
An eternal favourite subject of the Symbolists, the Sphinx was
portrayed both as a creature of supreme sexual attraction, and as a
metaphor for revelation through sensual experience.
Dreams
and the unconscious were central to Khnopff's art.
Khnopff illustrated books of the
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"Marguerite
Khnopff", the artist's sister,
1887 |
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"The
Abandoned Town",
1904, Musees Royaux des Beaux Arts, Brussels |
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First
Day Cover used with permission of Eugeen
Weyn, Belgium.
Eugeen
Weyn for detailed information about the artist.
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Portrait
of Kitty Kielland by Olav Rusti |
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Christine Kitty Lange (1843-1914).
Norwegian landscape painter. In 1873 she went to Karlsruhe,
Germany, where she was educated as a painter, later she left for Munich.
In 1879 she visit Paris, and the Paris Salon accepted two of her
paintings - sketches made
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the summertime. In 1885 she created the first painting, an evening
landscape, which got acknowledgement in her native country - the painting
belongs to the Royal Palace in Oslo. In 1887 Kielland won the Silver Medal
at the World Exhibition in Paris. In 1884 she was co-founder of the
Norwegian Women's Society. One of Kielland's principal paintings was
"Summer Night", 1886, the National Gallery, Oslo. Kitty Kielland was the sister of the famous Norwegian writer, lawyer and
mayor of Stavanger Alexander Kielland. (Realism)
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Kirchner,
Ernst Ludwig
(1880-1938).
German painter and co-founder of the Expressionist group Die Brücke
(The Bridge). Kirchner's main subject was urban
life. From 1918 he first and foremost executed landscapes, and in his
latest years abstract paintings. Kirchner was influenced by van Gogh,
Matisse, Gauguin and Edvard Munch.
(Expressionism)
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"Street
Dresden",
1907, Museum of Modern Art,
New York |
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"Untitled (Winter)",
1995, The Danish National Gallery,
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Kirkeby,
Per (1938). Danish geologist and
multiartist - paintings, drawings, graphics, watercolours
(from Greenland), monumental sculptures (red brick-sculptures),
environments, happenings, decorations, architecture,
film and authorship. Kirkeby's scientific studies
became important for his painting, e.g. his use of
earthen colours and for his solo performance series
from 1967-1968, "Arctic I-III". Kirkeby was influenced by Pop Art, later
the abstract expressionistic way of painting.
From 1962-66 he took part in happenings and worked
with painting at The experimental art school, "Eksskolen",
in Copenhagen, where his teachers were
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Kirkeby's breakthrough work was
"Traekvogn
13" ("handcart 13"), 1963 (executed together with Gernes
and Peter Louis-Jensen) - the work was made for The Artists Autumn
Exhibition, Copenhagen, it was rejected by the censors.
From 1964-67 he studied geology at the Copenhagen University - at
university he took part in geological expeditions in e.g. Northern Greenland. In
the 1960's he was connected with the Fluxus movement (an art movement
noted for the blending of different artistic disciplines).
In 1966 Kirkeby
took part in a happening in Copenhagen, Joseph Beuys was one of the participants.
In 1967, together with Nam June Paik (the father of
video art), Kirkeby arranged happenings in New York. In 1968
he was awarded The Academy Council's Gold Medal for Younger
Artists and Painters. In 1976 and 1993 he represented Denmark at the Venice
Biennale (in 1976 together with Bjoern Noergaard). In 1978,
through the
German Cologne Gallery
"Michael Werner", Kirkeby came into contact with the
New Expressionist movement - the circle of artists around the gallery
included Georg Baselitz, A.R. Penck and Jörg Immendorf -
exhibitions in Gallery "Michael Werner" meant the start of an
international career
for Kirkeby. From 1978-82 Kirkeby was visiting professor at the Art
Academy in Karlsruhe. Since 1982 he has been a member of The Danish
Academy.
He took part in many important exhibitions of contemporary art, including
the Documenta in Kassel, where he exhibited in 1982 and 1992. In 1987 he
received the Thorvaldsen Medal. From 1989-2000 he was visiting professor
at the Kunsthochschule in Frankfurt. In 2001 HM the Queen Margrethe 2. decorated
him with the medal of Ingenio et arti, instituted by King Christian 8.
Kirkeby lives and work in Copenhagen, on the Danish island Laesoe and in Frankfurt am Main
in Germany. (Multiartist)
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*The
motifs are made for stamps by four Danish
artists - the stamps themselves are the works of
art.
Mogens
Andersen
("Alfa"/"Alpha"), Per
Kirkeby ("Dansk efteraar"/"Danish
Autumn"), Ejler
Bille ("Billedtegn"/"Painting
idioms") and Carl-Henning
Pedersen ("Himmelhest"/"Heaven
Horse").
Engraver: Arne Kühlmann (the work of Per
Kirkeby). Typography: Austin Grandjean |
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Danish
"Stamp Art" is issued October 15, 1998.*
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Klein, Yves
(1926-1962). French painter. He was born in Nice, Southern France,
and he died in Paris at the age of 36 of heart failure shortly after he himself
and his paintings were humiliated in Gualtiero
Jacopetti's documentary "Mondo Cane",
1962 -
whether the film caused his early dead it is still all in the air.
Klein's parents were artist, his father Fred was a figure painter, his
mother Marie Raymond was well-known for her abstract paintings.
In 1947, when practicing judo, which he later studied in Japan, he became acquainted with
Claude Pascal and Arman, a friendship which motivated him to start
painting. Klein created monochromes, antropometries, cosmogonies,
fire paintings, sculptures and reliefs. His philosophy of painting had its
roots in the Greek philosopher Heraclitus of Ephesus (540-480 BC), in theories of the world's
creation, in the psychoanalysis
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Antropometry
(ANT 100), of
the Blue Period, 1960
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In the late 1940s Klein
engaged in monochrome paintings (a monochrome is a work painted in a
single colour). From 1948-52 he
traveled in England, Italy, Spain and Japan, and in 1955 he settled in Paris,
where his first solo exhibitions was held at Club des Solitaires. In 1955 he send a monochrome for exhibition at
Salon des Réalités Nouvelles, one of the censors
contacted him asking him to add an element to his painting, Klein
refused that request and withdraw the painting from the Salon. In
1956 his first monochromes were showed at Galerie Colette Allendy in
Paris. In 1957 he exhibited 11 blue paintings, all of this series of
paintings were the same size. In 1959 a
monochrome stamp
"Le timbre bleu"
(the blue stamp) was
issued in France. From 1958-60 he executed antropometries
- he used naked women, smeared with colours, as brushes, and in Paris in
1960 three "brush-women" put their bodyprint on a canvas while 20 musicians performed his Symphonie-monotone-silence
from 1947. From 1960-61 he created cosmogonies, monochromes with colours
in a thick coat exposed to rain and windy weather, and fire
paintings (a gas flame on a special proofed canvas, at last poured with
water). Klein's paintings contained the four Aristotelian elements earth,
water, air and fire.
His works are permanently exhibited at Musée d'Art Moderne et d'Art
Contemporain in Nice.
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Klimt,Gustav
(1862-1918). Austrian
symbolist painter, poster artist, illustrator and designer - he
was born in Baumgarten near Vienna, and he died in Vienna. Klimt's
works were organic decorative compositions often with gold
backgrounds and mosaic patterns - the use of gold and mosaic were
influenced by Egyptian, Minoan and Byzantine art and the art of
the Classical Greek style. Klimt was also influenced by copperplates
by Albrecht
Dürer, the painters of the Late Middle Ages, the Art
Nouveau painters and Japanese woodcuts. He preferred mural
paintings and decorative art to paintings on canvas. Klimt's works
provoked strong criticism at the time, they showed nakedness and eroticism,
one of his most well-known work was "The Kiss", it was
very controversial - at the same time hated and admired.
From 1876-83 he was educated at the school of Decorative
Arts in Vienna. In 1883, together with his brother Ernst and his
fellow student Franz
Matsch, he established "Künstler Compagnie" (Artist Company),
they specialized in murals
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"Judith
I", 1901 ,
Vienna, Österreichische Galerie |
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"The
Kiss", 1907,
Vienna, Österreichische Galerie
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and received commissions from museums, churches and theatres e.g. the decoration of the great staircase
hall in the Burgtheater (Castle Theater) in Vienna. "Künstler Compagnie"
was dissolved in 1892 when Ernst Klimt died. I
1894 Klimt and Matsch painted a mural for the Vienna University on
"Philosophy", "Medicine" and "Jurisprudence",
the work "Medicine",
showing a naked pregnant
woman, was exhibited in 1901 and made a sensation.
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In 1897 Klimt was co-founder of Wiener
Secession/the Vienna Secession (Vienna Art Nouveau)
and the magazine "Ver Sacrum" (Holy Spring), 1898-1903.
In 1905 Klimt and other artists withdraw from the Vienna Secession
and founded "Kunstschau" (Art Show). After 1900
he particularly painted portraits and landscapes, he also created
two murals "The
Beethoven Frieze", exhibited at the Vienna Secession
in 1902, and the marble frieze "The
Stoclet Frieze" for the dining room in the factory
owner Adolf Stoclet's private mansion in Brussels, 1904-11.
(Symbolism)
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Kluge,
Thomas, (1969). Danish painter. He had renewed the
style of Realism into an almost scary magical realism, which had
paid attention to his work - mainly admiration of his photographic
representations. The critics described his work as romantic, out
of step with the time and very much Renaissance- and Baroque-like
e.g. his use of Caravaggios
light - dramatic contrasts of light and dark, he had been
described as a replica painter and a talented craftsman. Kluge
himself was in opposition to the established art
institution.
Kluge became court painter to HM Queen Margrethe 2.
and HRH Prince Henrik, he had portrayed members of the royal
family and e.g. the former Lord Chamberlain and the Bishop of
Copenhagen Erik Norman Svendsen.
(Super Realism)
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Kroeyer
portrayed by Oscar Björck, 1884 |
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Kroeyer,
Peder Severin (1851-1909). Danish Skaw
Painter. Born in Stavanger, Norway, his mother was judged
unfit to care for her child, and he grew up in Copenhagen
with his foster parents, his maternal aunt and uncle.
At the age at 13 he begun studying at The Royal Danish
Academy of Fine Art in Copenhagen. Later he was apprenticed
to Leon Bonnat in Paris and influenced by the plein-air
naturalism. He made several study tours to France,
Spain and Italy, the tours became important for his
paintings. In 1882
Kroeyer visited the Skaw, and he was
fascinated by light, color and nature on
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the very top
of Denmark. He painted the fisherman, the life among the
artists' colony at the Skaw and portraits.
He met the painter and actress Marie Triepke, and she
became his beloved wife and model. Marie gave birth to
their daughter Vibeke. Kroeyer suffered from a mental
disease which influenced his life and marriage. Peder
and Marie were divorced in 1905. (Realism)
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In "Hip,
Hip, Hurra"
(Ernst Mentze's book, "P.S. Kroeyer") is a headless figure
(marked with a white circle).
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The
Danish National Gallery, Copenhagen. Photo: Kirsten
Petersen |
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"The
Lunch", 1893. Kroeyer, his wife Marie and the
writer Otto Benzon
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"The
Industry
Council", 1888
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Kutter,
Joseph (1894-1941).
Born in Luxembourg. His father was Swiss-born, his mother
German-born.
In 1908 he attended the "Ecole des Arts et Metiers"
(Arts and Crafts School) in Luxembourg before in 1911 continuing
his studies at "Ecole des Arts Décoratifs" (School of
Decorative Arts) in Strasbourg.
From 1911-14 he studied at "Ecole des Arts Décoratifs"
in Munich, and after World War I, at "Académie des Beaux
Arts de Munich". Kutter was the most well-known painter of
the Grand Duchy and among the best European expressionists of the
period between the two world wars. (Expressionism)
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"Rocking horse",
1937, Musée National d'Histoire et d'Art, Luxembourg |
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